Wonder if anyone can give us some advice. Our grand-daughter who is 4 weeks old has been round to the house a few times but one of our dogs, Max seems very interested and this is making us feel uncomfortable. He pricks up his ears, licks his lips and stares. We are unsure of his intentions and dont want to take any risks. He gets especially excited when she starts crying. Does anyone have any advice on this? We are not going to give him up...that is not an option, we just want to know how to manage this! We have had Max and Jenny for 2 years and have never had bother with babies/children......just small furries - and I can confirm that our grand-daughter is human!!

He's probably just being curious, but you obviously need to be careful just in case. I would suggest that next time the baby comes to visit you put Max on the lead and muzzle him. Make a big fuss of him so he feels safe and happy, then with somebody holding the baby (and ready to move away quickly if required) gently allow Max to sniff the baby. This should satisfy his curiosity and help him to accept the baby. If this goes well remove the muzzle and try again. Once he's satisfied his curiosity he'll soon lose interest. Obviously you should never leave the baby unattended with the dogs.

how about getting a blanket or cloth that has been with the baby for a couple of weeks & putting it in max's bed ?
sounds like he's slightly confused and anxious as to what the baby actually is.

luckily the baby will grow really quickly & in a couple of months he/she will be bigger & also making less squeeky type noises when it crys.

One of our neighbours is a babysitter and when one of the childrens starts crying Forth displays similar expresions as what you say Max also displays.

We recently had a 2yo in the house and we were slightly worried at how Forth might react but to our surprise he looked at the kid once then completely ignored him for the next 5 hours.

As previously mentioned I would think it's curiosity and confusion more than anything. It's an unfamiliar and sound/sight and it may just simply be a case of getting dog and baby used to each other (full precautions taken of course).

Best of luck

Thank you for your replies. We will continue to keep Max on the lead and try to introduce him to the baby wearing a muzzle (Max that is....not the baby!!)
He is used to being the baby of the house and is maybe a wee bit jealous.
Awww, bless!

Bambi has never met a baby that little but she has become VERY fond of children since ive had her...do you think that the fact the first time she came across a child in a pushchair they fed her chips has anything to do with it???lol (not that Im suggesting you should give the baby chips to feed to Max!!lol) Actually it was very cute as we didnt even know the parents or kids and the older child not in a buggy asked his dad about Bambi as we passed and the dad stopped us to ask if the wee one could have a look and some questions answered and whilst we were doing that the smaller child in the buggy was sneaking chips thru Bambi's muzzle!! (obviously Im also not suggesting that chips are a good diet for greys!!lol)x